The Chinese Violin

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

Lin Lin and her father have moved to Vancouver from a small village in
China. Lin Lin is lonely in the big city, but the sound of her
father’s Chinese violin as he plays it in the park or on a street
corner makes her happy. One day two thugs steal her father’s wallet
and break his violin. But Lin Lin’s father works hard and later
manages to buy another Chinese violin. Lin Lin practises on the new
violin outside, “along with the calling of the birds and the sound of
the wind in the trees.” Eventually, she performs in a school concert,
while her father sits proudly in the front row.

Vancouver-born Madeleine Thien has won several awards for her writing.
In The Chinese Violin, her simple but strong prose nicely conveys the
characters’ feelings of loneliness, fear, hope, and joy. Joe Chang is
an artist and animation director. His bold, semi-realistic illustrations
perfectly partner the text. Highly recommended.